Home > Henryk Górecki

Górecki was born in Czernica , in southern Poland. He did not study music seriously until he was in his twenties, when he began to study in Katowice. Later, while continuing his studies in Paris, Górecki was able to hear works by Anton Webern, Olivier Messiaen and Karlheinz Stockhausen which were suppressed by the Polish government. Górecki eventually became a music professor in Katowice, but he resigned his post in the late 1970s in protest against the government's refusal to allow Pope John Paul II to visit the city.

Górecki's music covers a variety of styles, but tends to be harmonically relatively simple. His first works were in the same avant garde style as that of Pierre BoulezPierre Boulez (born March 26, 1925) is a conductor and composer of classical music. He was born in Montbrison, France. He initially studied mathematics at Lyon before pursuing music at the Paris Conservatoire under Olivier Messiaen and Andree Vaurabourg ( or other serialistsSerialism is a rigorous system of composing music in which various elements of the piece are ordered according to a pre-determined ordered set or sets, and variations on them. The elements thus controlled may be the pitch of the notes, their length, their, but his later music is more often compared to minimalismMinimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is stripped down to its most fundamental features. In other fields of art, it has been used to describe the plays of Samuel Beckett, the fil, often being labelled as "holy minimalism". Like Arvo PärtArvo Part (born 1935) is an Estonian composer, often identified with the school of minimalism. Although at the time of Part's birth Estonia was a nascent independent republic, the Soviet Union took control of it in 1940, and stayed except for a brief peri, with whom he is also compared, his works often reflect his religious beliefs (Górecki is a Catholic).

Górecki's best known piece by far is his third symphony, subtitled Symphony of Sorrowful Songs. It is written in three movements for orchestraAn orchestra is a musical ensemble used most often in classical music. A small orchestra is called a chamber orchestra''. Full size orchestras may sometimes be called "symphony orchestras" or "philharmonic orchestras"; these prefixes do not indicate any d and sopranoIn music, a soprano is a singer with a voice ranging approximately from middle C to the A a thirteenth above middle C (above the treble clef). In four part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, and will usually take the melody. The wo solo. The words of the first movement are from a 15th century14th century 15th century 16th century other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 15th century was that century which lasted from 1401 to 1500. Events Renaissance affects philosophy, science and art. The New Monarchs come to power i lament, the second movement has words found written on the wall of a Gestapo prison cell in Zakopane, and the third movement is a folk song. The music throughout is slow and contemplative, with the first movement an extended canon for strings taking up around half of the entire playing time. A typical performance of the work lasts about fifty minutes.

The work was written in 1976, and premiered the following year. A recording of it released in 1993, with the London Sinfonietta conducted by David Zinman and the solo part sung by Dawn Upshaw, became a best seller.